How a determined detective helped bring down a sex attacker 33 years after his horrific crime

David Green was jailed for kidnapping and sexually assaulting a teenager in July 1982

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A determined detective brought a sex attacker who subjected a 15-year-old girl to a brutal ordeal to justice 33 years later.

Detective Constable Scott Westbrook-Smith helped finally lock up David Green for nine years through his “diligence and hard work”.

The officer was praised for helping obtain a DNA profile of Green from evidence gathered after the horrific ordeal in July 1983, when the girl was abducted near the town's Marine Lake, dragged into a hut, sexually assaulted and left tied up.

The case was unresolved but in 2015 the officer and his team at the Major Crime Review Team opened the cold case.

DC Westbrook-Smith and his team managed to use forensic advancements on fibre tapings from the victim’s clothing to obtain a DNA profile of Green in August 2016.

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And crucially, when police pulled Green, now 60, in for questioning, they saw he had a tattoo of his own name, ‘Dave’ – which matched the description given by the young victim all those years ago.

Green, from Moseley in Birmingham, was sentenced at Bristol Crown Court to nine years in prison after he admitted kidnap, sexual assault and false imprisonment.

David John Green's tattoo helped snare him 33 years after an horrific sex attack on a teenage girl

An awards ceremony paid tribute to DC Westbrook-Smith and heard that his tenacity had meant he traced down the victim and forensic scientists that worked on the case 33 years earlier to ensure the evidence stood up.

It was heard that because of his work the case went from “vitually nothing” to a very strong case.

The case left shockwaves through the community in the summer of 1983.

An e-fit was issued and an appeal widely publicised, but Green escaped back to Birmingham after the assault, which happened on July 17, 1983, and was never traced.

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Speaking after he was jailed, DC Westbrook-Smith, said: “Throughout this ordeal she feared for her life, describing in a statement how she was too scared to scream.

“The investigation was reviewed in 2015 and we submitted fibre tapings used to capture evidence on the victim’s clothing at the time for testing using the latest forensic techniques.

“This provided us with a partial DNA profile which was entered onto the National DNA Database and resulted in a match to David John Green.

“Crucially, one aspect of a statement taken from the victim at the time mentioned the offender had a tattoo with the name DAVE on his arm. David Green had this exact tattoo, which he admitted in interview to having had done around the age of 13.

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“The courage shown by the victim has been immense and I’m pleased that after all this time we’ve finally been able to convict the man responsible.

“This sends a powerful message to anyone who’s committed a serious sexual offence which to this date remains unsolved – your dark secret will not stay hidden forever and through the advancements in DNA testing it’s only a matter of time before you get a knock at your door which you hoped would never come.”